ustxtxb_obs_1968_05_10_50_00014-00000_000.pdf

RWY and Vietnam tive, involved board of education, vigorous in forming school policy. CGS men suggested that policy decisions be left largely to the new superintendent, Dr. Nolan Estes, due to take office in Sep tember, just as these matters have always been managed by the old superintendent, Dr. W. T. White, managed along establishment guidelines that White accepted without question long ago. What’s basically happening in Dallas is that the New Order and the Old are fighting a subtle battle of ideas in an arena that’s new to Dallas decision-making: at the polls. Pay Raises in Houston Schools Houston A recent reshuffling of the hiearchy of the Houston Independent School District administration and some healthy salary increases particularly for those who last fall actively supported the successful candidacy of the board’s conservative majority; [Obs., Oct. 27, 1967, pp. 3-6] have raised cries of “It’s all political.” The conservative-dominated \(by a 5-2 general superintendent of schools, promoted Supt. Glenn Fletcher to that job and then gave him a salary boost from $32,500 to $35,000 and a new three-year contract. Fletcher assumed the superintendency two years ago at a salary of $27,500, a boost of $5,500 from his salary as a deputy superintendent before that. Horace Elrod, formerly deputy superintendent for administration, was elevated to the newly created post of superintendent for instruction and administration and given a $6,000 annual salary boost to $30,000 plus a three-year contract. Elrod, one of the most active campaigners in behalf of the conservatives, is regarded as the heir-apparent to Fletcher. Elrod has managed the district’s building programs and formerly managed the athletics program. He also is a second cousin to H. L. Mills, former district business manager and many of whose relatives now hold top school posts. \(One of these relatives Mrs. Florine Scarborough is the widow of a first cousin Mills, and the new organizational chart promoted her from an elementary school supervisor to assistant superintendent of elementary schools without having filled Dr. H. S. Brannen, formerly deputy superintendent and business manager, moves up to the newly created slot of superintendent of business and business 14 The Texas Observer CLASSIFIED ANNE’S TYPING SERVICE: Duplicating \(multiNotary. Specialize in rush jobs, including Sundays. Formerly known as Marjorie Delafield Typing and Duplicating Service. Call HI 2-7008, Austin. BOOKPLATES. Free catalog. Many beautiful designs. Special designing too. Address: BOOKPLATES, Yellow Springs 8, Ohio. FROM PEKING & HANOI: Mao Tse-tung’s “Quotations” & “On People’s War,” both famous little red books for $1.00. Ho-Chi-Minh’s “Prison Diary,” 75c. Subscription to Peking Review, 52 weeks, air, $4.00. Subscription to Vietnam Courier, 26 weeks, $5.00. Payment with order to CHINA BOOKS, Dept. TO, 2929-24th St., San Francisco 94110. FREE CATALOG. manager. He also will receive $30,000 a year, a raise of $4,200 annually. The board also doubled the number of assistant superintendents from 10 to 20. The promotions and raises were to have been effective next Sept. 1, but on April 8, the board voted to make them retroactive to April 1. From a Houston correspondent of the Observer The reorganizations were recommended by a committee headed by conservative Dr. Ed Franklin, who ousted liberal incumbent board member Mrs. Charles White in last November’s school board election. Mrs. White, one of two Negroes and one of three liberals on the board, had served nine years and was an outspoken critic of the board’s conservative bent, Dr. Franklin was part of a threeman conservative slate that campaigned to “have neighborhood schools” and which leveled unsubstantiated charges that Mrs. White favored the busing of students from Negro areas into white schools and from white areas to Negro schools. A list of financial contributors to the campaign released recently showed a considerable number of teachers, principals and professional persons who do business with the school district as being among the contributors. The largest single item of income was listed as “mis Austin I hesitate to characterize Sen. Ralph Yarborough’s statements about the Vietnam war. The last time I said that he was “clearly in the camp of the senatorial critics of Johnson’s policies in Vietnam,” the senator delivered himself of an indignant disquisition of astonishment that anyone would derive such an outlandish interpretation from what he had been saying [Obs. July 8, 1966]. Nevertheless, I am emboldened by the senator’s April 19 newsletter to observe that if he is not a dissenter, neither is he a candidate to succeed Dean Rusk as Johnson’s secretary of state. “The cost of the war in Vietnam,” he cellaneous cash” and totaled $2,835.28 for each of the three conservatives. Contributions from architects, who have designed school buildings, and building contractors were as much as $834 for each candidate. So far, neither Houston newspaper has published a list of contributors and their associations with the conservatives. Elrod was one of the most active campaigners during the school board race. He addressed several sectional meetings of school system teachers and principals where he openly urged the election of the conservatives. He and other school administration officials said, among other things, that teachers and principals would be moved into predominantly Negro schools if the liberals were successful. Some other active campaigners were passed over for the promotions and pay raises. Inside sources said it was because they were not allied with the “Mills crowd” in the school administration. In justifying the promotions and raises, the school board said the new positions were needed because administrators are so loaded with details that principals are unable to obtain advice and counsel when they need it and because the top echelon of management needs to be freed from administrative detail so it oversee the school operation. Commented one observer: “Did the board need to give so many people increases in rank and salary just so principals can talk with administrators when they have problems?” said in this newsletter, “can be told in cold, depressing statistics: 20,775 deaths as April began; 127,000 serious injuries; others missing or imprisoned. More than 1,400 Texans have died in this war 12,000 miles away. “Our defense budget for next year will approach $80 billion if the war continues. That includes billions of dollars that could otherwise go for better schools, for better housing, better treatment of older Americans, stronger conservation programs. Those billions could make a significant dent in our national debt. “Instead, they are budgeted for more death, destruction, and sorrow. Our president is engaged in a new effort toward